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Online Video On Demand

In this brief, you will learn:■ The state of video on

demand (VOD)

■ The challenges in delivering VOD content

■ How to solve those challenges

Video on demand (VOD) continues to grow. Nielsen Media, in their recent study, claims “year over year overall growth in digital use of 16% among persons 18-34, with 53% growth in digital video viewing…This impressive growth in digital is even more marked among 35-49 year olds and among 50-64 year olds.”1 Cisco, in their annual benchmarking study of Internet traffic, predicts that by 2017, over 70% of all mobile Internet traffic will be online video.

And the predictions seem to be ringing true. Companies such as Netflix have seen continued subscriber growth. In Q4 of 2013, for example, their subscriber base increased by almost 10%.2

But delivering video on demand isn’t without challenges. According to data from the recent State of the User Experience Report, performance is top-of-mind for viewers. They expect content to load quickly and playback without issue. Content providers are striving to meet this growing demand.

Key ChallengesCompanies who need to deliver video-on-demand often face the following challenges:■ Storage—As your video library continues to grow, so too will your storage needs.

It’s easy to continue adding more disks, but eventually your storage will become a bottleneck unless it’s distributed and available where your users are. How are you handling the storage of your video files?

■ Delivery—Getting your video content to your viewers may seem like a pretty easy task, but it all comes down to infrastructure and whether or not you have what you need to meet demand—not only in your local area, but around the globe. Do you have the infrastructure you’ll need to deliver videos to viewers at the quality and performance they expect?

■ Security—You may have content that you’ve licensed or that you’re responsible for keeping safe. Perhaps it can only be accessed in certain locations or by certain users. Regardless, you have an obligation to ensure that only authorized users can access it. How are you protecting your video content?

■ Monetization—Maybe your VOD is the cornerstone of your business model. Or maybe you’d just like to monetize some of the views you’ve been receiving. Either way, you need an easy way to integrate advertising or set up login credentials for subscription-based access. What are you doing to monetize your content?

■ Multi-device—More and more consumers are watching their videos on mobile devices, all of which seem to require a dif ferent format or resolution. Supporting a multitude of devices can quickly complicate your content publishing workflow, making it harder to get your videos to your viewers in the formats they need. How are you ensuring that your videos can be viewed on any device?

■ Management—A spreadsheet isn’t the answer to managing your growing video library. Without a quick and easy way to keep track of your videos, organize them into channels, and manage metadata your library will soon become the bottleneck.

■ Analytics—You can’t be left wondering what’s happening with your video content. You need to know the behavior of your viewers. When are they dropping off, how long are they engaging, on what devices are they viewing? Answering these questions can help you provide a better experience.

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Online Video On Demand

SolutionLimelight Networks solves each of these challenges accordingly:■ Storage—Orchestrate Cloud Storage ensures that you have all the storage you need as your library grows. But more than

just additional terabytes, this cloud storage solution is integrated with the edge of the Limelight content delivery network (CDN), meaning that your files are stored closer to your end users around the world, not in some centralized data center thousands of miles away.

■ Delivery—With Orchestrate Content Delivery, you get all the infrastructure you need. Powered by a proven, global CDN, Orchestrate Content Delivery can get your videos to wherever your users are pretty much anywhere on the planet. In addition, you’ll gain access to an extensive caching system designed to temporarily store your files for immediate playback.

■ Security—The Limelight Orchestrate Platform includes a variety of content security features including DRM (Widevine), geo-fencing (restricting access to content based on the location of the user), tokenization (requiring an approved token for content access), and URL obfuscation (hiding the original location of the source material).

■ Monetization—Orchestrate Video is integrated directly with leading ad networks to enable the insertion of ads before and after your video content.

■ Multi-device—When you use Orchestrate Video, you don’t have to worry about delivering to dif ferent devices, it’s done automatically. When users request your video from an iOS, Android, or other device, if the format isn’t already in cache it’s converted immediately, ensuring that your videos are always available in the right format.

■ Management—With Orchestrate Video, you get access to a powerful web-based video library management tool enabling you to quickly and easily organize your videos into channels, manage metadata, and upload new content.

■ Analytics—Incorporated into Orchestrate Content Delivery and Orchestrate Video are in-depth analytics to help you understand the business value of your on-demand video content. Leveraging both a web-based interface and log files you can consume into your own reporting dashboard, you’ll have a clear picture of how your viewers are engaging with your content.

ConclusionVideo on demand (VOD) consumption is growing, especially across dif ferent mobile devices. But delivering VOD traffic isn’t without its challenges. You need a good place to store your content, the infrastructure to support demand, security, and a way to manage all your videos. The Limelight Orchestrate Platform can help solve those challenges with a complete end-to-end solution designed to make managing, publishing, delivering, and monetizing your video as easy as possible.

1 http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2014/shif ts-in-viewing-the-cross-platform-report-q2-2014.html

2 http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303947904579336820835982270

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